Behind the early-vote curve

New York is one of only 14 states that have yet to embrace early voting

Published 9:55 pm, Saturday, October 27, 2012

A voting machine that scans a completed ballot on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, at the Albany County Board of Elections in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

A voting machine that scans a completed ballot on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, at the Albany County Board of Elections in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

Photo: Cindy Schultz

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A sample Albany City ballot on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, at the Albany County Board of Elections in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

A sample Albany City ballot on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, at the Albany County Board of Elections in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

Photo: Cindy Schultz

Behind the early-vote curve

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ALBANY — For a growing segment of the nation's voters, Election Day has come and gone.

That's because most states now allow early voting as a convenience for their residents.

Voters in El Paso, Texas, were allowed to cast ballots as early as Oct. 22. Those in Iowa could have voted on Sept. 27.

New York, however, is among the 14 states where there is no early voting — and some people are starting to wonder why.

The issue arose briefly during a state Board of Elections meeting earlier in the month when Commissioner Evelyn Aquila said early voting deserves consideration.

"I'm afraid we're losing people who would normally vote," she said, such as would-be voters who get discouraged when they see long lines at the polling places and go home.

Others share her concern.

Groups pushing for a range of election and voter-registration changes point out that the Empire State is woefully behind the times in making it easier for people to register and vote.

In addition to early voting, some states allow voting by mail (Washington and Oregon), while others let voters use absentee ballots without providing an explanation.

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"We have an extremely archaic election system," said Lee Rowland, counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice. New York has the third-lowest rate of voter registration in the nation, she said.

A handful of lawmakers have looked at early voting and other changes, but the ideas have gained little traction so far.

Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh and Sen. Joe Addabbo, both New York City Democrats, have introduced bills that contain a number of changes, but they haven't made it out of committee.

One of the challenges, Kavanagh said, is that enacting early voting and other changes, such as making getting absentee ballots easier, would probably require a constitutional amendment.

The state constitution says absentee ballots can be used in the event of illness or physical disability, something other states don't require.

A constitutional alteration can only be made after two successive votes by the Legislature and a vote by the public, putting any changes several years away, even with support.

Early voting has critics, too. Some wonder if it encourages casting ballots before the full dialogue of a political race is heard. And it's unclear how much it increases turnout over overall.

Attempts at overhaul have typically focused on other ideas, such as easing registration requirements. Rowland says that whenever a New Yorker moves from one county to another, that person needs to re-register, another example, she said, of how the state's rules are out of step with our mobile lifestyle.

"All said, it's time for New York to seriously consider early voting and other reforms," said Neil Rosenstein, who specializes in voting issues for New York Public Interest Research Group. It has no official stand on early voting, but Rosenstein expects many New Yorkers to find long lines at the polls this Election Day because many are unfamiliar with the state's new optical scan voting machines. (New York was the last state to adopt the newer machines, after the federal government took it to court for waiting so long to comply with a federally mandated modernization move).

Watchdog groups are happy that the state decided to use models that employ paper ballots that are fed into the machines — a process that creates a paper trail.

They are pushing for changes in the rule, which is thought to date to the days before widespread literacy, that requires ballots to bear the logos of political parties. Critics also want to simplify language on ballots they say is hard to read or understand.

"Those are what I call clutter and garbage," Allaud said of the current ballots.

Kavanagh has also proposed legislation for more user-friendly ballots.

"There has been a real hesitancy to take a look and to explore anything when it comes to changing election law," said NYPIRG's Rosenstein.

"New York is at the bottom of the barrel in so many election related areas."